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Soundtrack to your novel

Ryan_Crown

Troubadour
I was talking with a writer friend of mine about the novel I'm just starting on, and made the comment that one of the first things I like to do when building the outline for a story is to create a soundtrack for it. I'm a really, really big movie buff, so I often think in cinematic terms when creating my stories. So for me, having a soundtrack just makes perfect sense. If I can find the right songs, I can close my eyes and picture the moment in the story that would have that song playing in the background.

My friend looked at me like I was crazy, and said this isn't something she'd ever done, or thought of doing. So I'm just curious -- have any of you put together a soundtrack for your story, or had a specific playlist put together to listen to while you were writing that you envisioned playing in the background of your story?
 
I normally think in terms of sound effects rather than specific movie themes, but I do like playing movie themes while writing - and choose something appropriate for the scene. But I do it on a scene by scene basis - not a soundtrack for the entire novel.
 
I was actually thinking about this the other day. I thought it would be pretty cool to do a sort of homemade album of music to go with a story, specifically this story which involves a lot of travelling musicians and that sort of thing. Of course I can't really play anything at the moment, so it's just thought. Music is so emotive though that combining the two could be interesting.
 
I often have a song for a story, and I may have a song for a character, but I don't really know enough songs to have a song for every scene. I'm not entirely certain how you could pull that off.

(If anyone's curious, this is my current song. It fits almost every character in the story.)
 
Hi,

Not often. But when I was writing Dragon which is essentially one long space opera of solid space battles I had AC/DC's Thunderstruck running through my head constantly. That was simply the mood I was in.

Cheers, Greg.
 

Svrtnsse

Staff
Article Team
I've got songs fitting most of my major characters and I've got songs that fit with moods I'm writing.
I don't have a specific song associated with every scene, but I do think that if I sat down to do it, I could pick out songs easy enough.
 

SM-Dreamer

Troubadour
I have a selection of songs for major characters, and I'll play it when I'm working on those characters. I'll also listen to game soundtracks when I'm writing in general.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
I rarely listen to anything as I write. I find it interferes with the voices in my head.

Seriously. As I write, I have to hear my characters speaking. If there is music going on, especially if it has vocals, then there's another voice competing.

I love music. I love it so well, when I hear it, I listen to it. To me, listening to music while I write makes as much sense as watching TV while I listen to music. Each medium deserves my full attention, and trying to split the difference yields a sum less than zero.

ymmv
 

Incanus

Auror
I rarely listen to anything as I write. I find it interferes with the voices in my head.

Seriously. As I write, I have to hear my characters speaking. If there is music going on, especially if it has vocals, then there's another voice competing.

I love music. I love it so well, when I hear it, I listen to it. To me, listening to music while I write makes as much sense as watching TV while I listen to music. Each medium deserves my full attention, and trying to split the difference yields a sum less than zero.

ymmv

Same here. Music is my other love. If I can hear music, wherever I am, or whatever I'm doing, I start to analyze it, I start thinking about it. Far too distracting for me. Even in a totally controlled environment, I have difficulty concentrating.

The idea of this thread never occured to me. But I am a big fan of--'if something helps, use it."
 

Sir Kieran

Scribe
I love both listening to music while I write, and complete silence. It depends on my mood, really. Sometimes if it's silent, I get really into the story. Nothing can pull me away.

But some music on the other hand can really inspire me. I listen to the following things to get me going:
The albums Invincible and Archangel by Two Steps from Hell (fantastic songs on these albums).
Almost anything by Michael Giacchino or John Williams
Lord of the Rings soundtrack
Game of Thrones soundtrack
Lost / Fringe
Gladiator

What I am about to do is assign certain songs to my characters. As in TV shows, the composers usually give each character a certain theme (Game of Thrones and Lost are excellent at this). That way, I can familiarize myself with each song while writing that character, and repeat the process.
 

Ryan_Crown

Troubadour
For me, music is all about emotion. I don't focus so much on the lyrics themselves as the emotions the lyrics and the music create (which is probably why I enjoy a lot of non-English speaking bands, even though I have no earthly idea what the singer is saying). And while there are times that I absolutely want to just sit and listen to music and focus solely on the music, when I'm writing if I've got the right music that sets the mood for the scene, or the character, I can let it play in the background and half listen to it, and it so often puts my mind right where it needs to be to really lose myself in what I'm writing. But that's just me.
 

Trick

Auror
I am not a music buff. I never turn the radio on in the car, or at least haven't in well over a year. But, that's because the current crop seems to get worse with every listen. Some more indie stuff catches my attention and I have an old, faded love of certain rock bands from my teens. I love the idea of listening to favorites while I write but they'd have to be instrumental and I can't find them without buying karaoke CDs or tracks online.

My current WIP would definitely be attuned to Breaking Benjamin's style though.
 
I have a 35 hour playlist on my Spotify I titled "Epic Music". It's filled With LOTR and Hobbit Soundtracks, Two Steps From Hell, Immediate Music, etc. Whenever I start to write, I put it on shuffle and go from there. It helps a lot.
 
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Addison

Auror
Attention people!!

If you do not know the name Peter Crowley, you have been living in a hole. For example:

Everything that pops up with this on youtube itself is worth a listen. A rare few have lyrics, but all of them are inspiring.
 
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